Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB) got downgraded

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB) currently trades at $1.20 which is about 1.69% higher than the 52-week high of $8.15. The trading volume at ready counter moved to 3.33M shares as compared to 591,057.00 shares average traded volume. The stock failed to get pushed above the $1.33 barrier, the intraday high, after opening at $1.25. Analysts have a consensus target price of $17.00 in the 12-month period. Its market capitalization has now reached to $6.54M.

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CATB) was dropped to Underweight from Equal Weight at Barclays. It has earned a consensus Strong buy rating, according to Zacks Investment Research. No analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, 1 has assigned a hold rating, Zero says it’s a buy and 3 have assigned a strong buy rating to the company.

Catabasis Pharmaceuticals Inc (CATB) on January 4, 2017 announced the publication of preclinical data on the edasalonexent program, a potential disease-modifying therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). The preclinical data demonstrate that edasalonexent (CAT-1004) and an analog, CAT-1041, oral inhibitors of NF-kB, are effective in ameliorating the dystrophic process in two animal models of DMD in an article titled “Disease Modifying Effects of Orally Bioavailable NF-kB Inhibitors in Dystrophin-Deficient Muscle” in JCI Insight (JCI Insight 2016 Dec 22;1(21):e90341).

This research was led by H. Lee Sweeney, Ph.D., then at the University of Pennsylvania. Edasalonexent (CAT-1004) and CAT-1041, which represent a novel class of NF-kB inhibitors, were evaluated in both mdx mouse and golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) dog models of DMD. Initial studies with edasalonexent and CAT-1041 in mdx mice demonstrated nearly identical in vitro and in vivo efficacy, and CAT-1041 was selected for further evaluation in the treatment of dystrophic muscle. In vivo, CAT-1041 effectively improved the phenotype of mdx mice undergoing voluntary wheel running, in terms of activity, muscle mass and function, damage, inflammation, fibrosis and cardiac pathology. The researchers identified significant increases in dysferlin as a possible contributor to the protective effect of CAT-1041 against sarcolemmal damage. Furthermore, CAT-1041 improved the more severe GRMD phenotype in a canine case study, where muscle mass and diaphragm function were maintained in a treated GRMD dog.

“There remains a large unmet need in Duchenne for therapies that can treat all affected boys and slow disease progression. The orally bioavailable NF-kB inhibitors, edasalonexent and CAT-1041, improve the severe dystrophic phenotype found in both mechanically-damaged mdx mice and a GRMD dog and create an environment that can support more successful muscle regeneration,” said Dr. Sweeney, currently Myology Institute Director, University of Florida. “We believe that these in vivo preclinical results support edasalonexent as a candidate for the treatment of DMD.”

“We very much appreciate the research performed by Dr. Sweeney and his colleagues,” said Andrew Nichols, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Catabasis. “We agree that these data support edasalonexent as a potential treatment to improve both the quantity and quality of muscle fibers in boys affected by DMD and look forward to the Phase 2 clinical trial results with edasalonexent in the first half of Q1 2017.”